Sponsored by Lane Cove Council
You do not need to cross the bridge to get a decent dose of Sydney Fringe this September.
Pottery Lane Performance Space is once again part of the Sydney Fringe program, with theatre, comedy, dance, music and some slightly harder-to-categorise performances all coming to Lane Cove over the next month.
And if you are one of the many locals who still asks us, “Where exactly IS Pottery Lane Performance Space?”, you are not alone.
The theatre is on the lower ground floor at 1 Pottery Lane, directly opposite Lane Cove Aquatic Centre. There is a Council car park in the building with three hours free parking and free parking after 6pm. It is also an easy walk from Longueville Road.
This year the program starts with an Australian premiere, moves through Japanese classical dance, The Beatles, corporate Australia and AI, then finishes September with a mini Best of Fringe season bringing some of the festival’s standout shows to Lane Cove.
Here is what you can book.
The Man
1–4 September – Pottery Lane Performance Space
75 minutes | M15+ | Tickets from $35
A pile of tax receipts does not immediately scream “great night at the theatre”, but that is exactly where The Manbegins.
Ben is a sole trader who has spent the year hoarding his receipts. Now tax time has arrived and he has to work through them — with some help from the audience.
Every audience member receives a receipt and people are selected at random to hand theirs over, triggering the corresponding monologue. It means the order of the show changes every night.
The Man is written by Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham, whose credits include Dear England, Quizand Ink, and is being given its Australian premiere by JB Theatre Co.
North Sydney-based director Jo Bradley leads a team with plenty of North Shore connections, including sound designer Otto Zagala and production designer Bella Wellstead, who works at Ensemble Theatre.
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE BOOKING LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – VERIFY BEFORE PUBLISHING: Your ITC calendar and the producer’s email say the Lane Cove season is 1–4 September/four nights. Sydney Fringe is currently displaying 1–6 September. Confirm with Jo/JB Theatre Co which is correct before this goes live.
Snow, Moon, and Flowers – 雪月花
2–3 September
20 minutes | G | Tickets $20
This world premiere is a completely different kind of Fringe experience.
Created and performed by Junko Hirabayashi, Snow, Moon, and Flowers combines Japanese classical dance, live music and English narration to tell the stories of three pioneering Japanese immigrants in Australia and the United States.
The title comes from the Japanese concept of setsugekka — snow, moon and flowers — representing the beauty of the changing seasons.
The work also marks the 50th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Australia and Japan.
Junko told In the Cove she hopes to share Japanese dance, the sounds of the taiko drum and bamboo flute and stories of immigrants through the work.
There are only two Lane Cove performances before Junko and the team also appear as part of the free Festival Launch Night at The Canopy on Friday 4 September.
Wednesday 2 September – 8pm
Thursday 3 September – 8pm
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE BOOKING LINK]
All Things Must Pass: A Play About The Beatles
10–13 September
90 minutes | PG | Tickets $35
Lane Cove Theatre Company takes over Pottery Lane next with All Things Must Pass, written by David Potter and directed by Luke Derrick.
Rather than simply retelling the story of The Beatles, the play begins in the aftermath of John Lennon’s death.
Ringo, George and Paul are each left grappling with the loss of their former bandmate and friend, while John drifts in and out of their memories.
The work moves between grief, friendship, fame, spirituality and the enormous legacy of a band whose members ultimately had to work out how to keep living once The Beatles were over.
It is also one of the genuinely Made in Lane Cove productions in this year’s Fringe program, presented by Lane Cove Theatre Company in its home venue.
Thursday 10 September – 7:30pm
Friday 11 September – 7:30pm
Saturday 12 September – 2pm and 7:30pm
Sunday 13 September – 3pm
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE BOOKING LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – SOURCE MORE: This section will be much stronger once we get Lane Cove Theatre Company to give us the local company story: why they chose the play, local cast/crew, rehearsal photos and a quote from director Luke Derrick. Also verify the Sunday running time — Council currently lists 3pm–4pm even though the production is advertised as 90 minutes.
Algorithm of Us
16–19 September
90 minutes | M | Tickets $59
If you have ever sat through a corporate town hall about “transformation”, heard someone say “AI” fourteen times in a meeting or wondered why consultants have been brought in to tell staff something they already knew, this one may hit a little close to home.
The Algorithm of Us is a brand new Australian satirical romantic comedy from Behind Closed Doors Theatre.
Data analyst Laari has spent five years in corporate Australia and is beginning to question whether another dashboard is really going to fill the void.
Then her homemade AI agent sends a company-wide email, lands her on a project team she did not ask for and introduces her to management consultant Vee — who represents just about everything she hates.
Naturally, she cannot stop talking to him.
The show is making its world premiere at Pottery Lane.
BCD Theatre also has a lovely Lane Cove connection. The company brought And What Will People Say? to Pottery Lane during last year’s Sydney Fringe. Since then, that production travelled to Melbourne for a sold-out season at fortyfivedownstairs.
Now the company is coming back to Lane Cove with a completely new work.
16–19 September – 7:30pm nightly
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE BOOKING LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – INTERVIEW: Kersh has specifically offered an interview. TAKE IT. Ask about what happened after their 2025 Lane Cove season, the Melbourne sell-out, why this work premieres in Lane Cove and how much of the corporate/AI material comes from real life.
Best of Fringe Comes to Lane Cove
The final week changes things up again.
Four Fringe productions will come to Pottery Lane as part of the Best of Fringe program, giving Lane Cove audiences a chance to see shows that have been selected from the wider Sydney Fringe season without travelling into the city.
Barnaby: A Country Musical
Lane Cove performances: 24 and 26 September
60 minutes | M | Tickets $44
The team behind Gladys: A Musical Affair turns its attention to another Australian political figure.
Barnaby: A Country Musical is a country-comedy musical inspired by Barnaby Joyce, complete with bluegrass, bush-dance energy, political scandals and a journey from country accountancy to Canberra.
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – ADD SESSION TIMES.
That’s Me In The Corner
Best of Fringe – Pottery Lane
50 minutes | M15+
There is a guy in the corner of almost every Australian pub.
He has an acoustic guitar, a questionable PA, hundreds of cover songs in his head and people yelling requests at him while half the room barely notices he is there.
That’s Me In The Corner takes that familiar pub musician and turns his world into a one-man show about live music, masculinity, loneliness, validation and the changing culture of Australian pubs.
There will be live music.
There will be comedy.
There may even be a meat raffle.
Apparently there will not be Wonderwall.
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – CONFIRM: Lane Cove session dates, session times and whether the $31.50 Sydney Fringe price also applies to the Pottery Lane encore performances.
An Augmentation of Sitar by Ravi
25–27 September
55 minutes | PG | Tickets $40
This is not necessarily the sitar performance you are imagining.
Ravi Ramjas takes the instrument into pop, contemporary music and live collaboration, including creative interpretations of music associated with artists such as Taylor Swift, Coldplay, John Mayer and Alicia Keys.
The show is interactive and designed so that every performance can be different.
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – CONFIRM EXACT POTTERY LANE PERFORMANCE DATES/TIMES.
Gia Ophelia
25–27 September
60 minutes | M | Tickets $44
If the name Jo Bradley is starting to look familiar, there is a reason.
The director who opens the Pottery Lane season with The Man returns at the other end of the month with Gia Ophelia, an award-winning one-woman play written by Grace Wilson and starring Annie Stafford.
Gia is an actor dealing with a stalled career, ageing, motherhood, infertility and a lingering desire to play Shakespeare’s Ophelia one last time.
The dark comedy takes aim at sexism and ageism in the arts and arrives in Lane Cove after seasons at KXT and Canberra Theatre Centre.
The production was a finalist for Best in Theatre at Sydney Fringe 2025, with Bradley receiving an Emerging Artist Award.
BOOK: [INSERT DIRECT SYDNEY FRINGE LINK]
EDITOR NOTE – CONFIRM EXACT LANE COVE DATES/TIMES. Jo is already available to us through JB Theatre Co, so we should get a fresh quote for the Week 4 article rather than chasing her twice.
And it does not quite finish on 30 September…
One thing worth knowing: while the official Lane Cove Festival finishes on 30 September, the performances at Pottery Lane continue into the first week of October.
Family show I Couldn’t Find a Babysitter! runs from 1–3 October, with tickets at $29, followed by Nana Koizumi’s Studio Ghibli Jazz Concert on 4 October, with tickets at $30.
So do not assume Pottery Lane closes its doors when September does.
EDITOR NOTE: I would include these. Your proposal promises “every ticketed production at the venue”, and leaving the October Fringe shows out weakens that claim.
Where is Pottery Lane Performance Space?
Pottery Lane Performance Space
Lower Ground Floor
1 Pottery Lane, Lane Cove
It is directly opposite Lane Cove Aquatic Centre.
There is a Council car park within the building offering three hours free parking and free parking after 6pm.
Still not sure how to find it? In the Cove will also be publishing a short video showing exactly where to go.
You can see everything happening across Lane Cove during September in our Lane Cove Festival 2026 Full Program Guide.
Lane Cove Festival is presented by Lane Cove Council in partnership with Sydney Fringe Festival.
